


Scarred Storyteller

by thepetulantpen



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, F/M, I wrote this instead of doing my creative writing assignment, absolute abuse of ellipses, again I’m so new to this site so let me know if I made mistakes??, also posted on my tumblr as always, go look somewhere else if you want serious angst, i didn’t name any of them cause I couldn’t be bothered, i mainly just wanted to write about Scanlan ok, minimal lifespan angst, no overly sad Vax stuff, optimistic hcs and blatant denial of reality, perc’ahlia kids, pretty much all of Vox Machina is mentioned tho, this not really angst cause I just don’t like sad stuff, vague nods to campaign two, wooooo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-15
Updated: 2018-08-15
Packaged: 2019-06-27 22:01:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15694191
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thepetulantpen/pseuds/thepetulantpen
Summary: Scanlan tells Percy and Vex’s kids stories throughout the years.





	Scarred Storyteller

“Tell us a story!”

Their eyes shine so bright, eager to hear of their parents’ world, of adventures and monsters and happy endings. Some of them look like their mom, some their dad, but all of them are without the heaviness that have settled in the cracks and shadows that linger in older faces. 

Scanlan smiles at them. He looks just as young, and only a bit taller than the kids. 

“What sort of story do you want to hear? About princesses? Kings? Dragons? Dragon kings?”

He leans in, playing to a totally captivated audience, rare these days. 

“Or maybe.... no, I shouldn’t tell you that one.”

He pulls back as they all let out whines and complaints, the eldest rolls his eyes but keeps his smile. Old enough to know Scanlan’s tricks but not enough to resist them. 

“C’mon Scanlan! Tell us! Tell us! Tell us!”

The chant immediately makes his ears ring and trigger a primal instinct to make it stop, do anything to appease them as long as they stop shouting. It’s also caught the attention of their mother who is trying to hide herself near the doorway with mixed results. 

“Alright, alright! So you want to hear about... the ghosts in the cellar? Or maybe you’d like to hear about vampires first?”

The youngest girl grabs her sister, uncertain about scary stories, but her brother is instantly on board. 

“Ghosts!”

The kid, bless his heart, has nearly no volume control. His shout has Vex leaning in the doorway, frowning.

“No scary stories! Scanlan, I will revoke your story-time privileges, so help me Sarenrae.” 

“But Mom!”

Another simultaneous whine. How do they manage to be so in sync? 

“No buts! I will not be hearing complaints about nightmares. I mean it, Scanlan.”

He throws up his hands in surrender. 

“I hear ya, I hear ya. Let’s just stick with dragons, yeah?”

“Dragon king!” The littlest girl hurries to the front, ready to hear her story.

“Alright, we’ll start in a town called-“

...

“Can Trinket listen to the story with us today?”

Scanlan looks up the the hulking mass of fur. At one point, he was terrified of the damn thing, as it’s several times his size and could easily eat him. Now he’s more concerned with the terrible smell. And the dirt it tracks everywhere. But that’s more Percy’s problem now. 

He just can’t say no to the kids’ big eyes. 

“Yeah, alright. Cuddle up with the bear and let’s decide on a story.”

“Tell one about Trinket! Mom is always saying how much of a hero he was, with the team.” The oldest boy has developed quite an impressive shit-eating grin and is taking full advantage. 

Trinket grunts in a way that somehow comes across as smug and Scanlan sighs. He’ll do it. But only for the kids.

“Mmm... I think I can think of one time Trinket saved the day. See we were fighting these huge bugbears, bugbears are like-“ 

...

It’s easy to entertain little kids with tales of a bear’s bumbling heroism and idyllic heroes slaying dragons but as they grow older and more demanding Scanlan finds himself scrambling to prepare longer, more action packed stories of monsters they haven’t heard about yet and plot twists they can’t see coming. He’s trying to spice up his stories any way he can; dramatic music, lighting effects, some magic spells, even a polymorph once for flavor. Kaylie teases him about the nights he spends trying to outline the next story but she agrees to come with him to play music the next night. 

Their duet plays to a song Scanlan writes about a group of heroes, a song that took the longest to write out of all the songs Scanlan has ever performed. The kids are obsessed, they sing it whenever they can and it makes their parents smile with nostalgia. 

He asks Kaylie if she wants her own stories, enough to make up for all the stories he should’ve told her when she was young. She punches him in the arm and tells him she’s too old for bedtime stories. 

“You sure you don’t want to know about the fire breathing triceratops?”

“... maybe just one story.”

...

Taryon stops by one day, catching up with old friends and filling them in on his adventures. 

Scanlan doesn’t know him as well as the others seem to but he’s heard quite a bit about him from Vex. He’s interested to find out what this Taryon has to offer, given that he managed to win over Vox Machina. 

When they’ve assembled in the dining hall, Taryon and Scanlan spend the entire meal competing for storytelling time and the air is filled with a constant stream of steadily more exaggerated stories. The dinner table is in near chaos with their constant interruptions and vigilant watch of any possible opening to in the other’s speech to start their own story and prevent the other from getting a word in. 

It’s loads of fun, Scanlan wonders why the man ever left their party in the first place. They would’ve made a wonderful, obnoxious team. 

Tary sits with the kids for Scanlan’s story of the night, quiet for the first time that day. He looks just like the kids, sat cross legged on the bedroom floor, his face and eyes focused on Scanlan with rapt attention, like he’s about to unveil some terribly important, world-ending information. 

It makes Scanlan smile to see that the world hasn’t taken away his wonder. 

“Tonight’s story begins with a man and another man, both with shiny armory and beautiful hair and both very in love, who go to fight-“ 

...

Scanlan does eventually give the kids a story about ghosts and vampires and undead monsters, when they’re not at risk of nightmares. 

It’s not the real story, of course. It’s never real stories. Real stories are never written or sung. Real stories are painful and dirty and usually boring. The pacing is all wrong and the ending is never quite right. 

He spins made up tales of gods and monsters. He edits their own adventures, tailors them for a new audience, adjusts the amount of time spent planning and cuts out some of the less deserving failures. Makes the endings sweeter and more satisfying. 

Fiction is a beautiful thing, it can make nearly any reality bearable. 

“And then I said-“

...

The kids age. Percy ages. Vex ages, even if she doesn’t show it. 

Scanlan refuses to age. He’s the same face, the same voice, the same height.

The kids thought being taller than him was the best part of having a gnome friend but now that they’re older, they’re more glad to have an unchanging presence in their much more complicated lives. 

Grog has come by for one of the kid’s birthdays. He’s heard there will be drinking, as Percy and Vex have decided their eldest is of age to have his first booze. 

“Are the stories Scanlan tells true? Are you really strong enough to shatter boulders?”

Grog scoffs. 

“Shattering boulders is easy street.”

They hike through forest, away from possible collateral damage, and Scanlan eggs Grog on with ridiculous stories of strength and watches as Grog takes every challenge and promptly smashes it. 

Percy mentions he should probably be taking it easy, at his age. 

Grog says, confidently, that he’s found a way to live forever. 

Vex only manages a nervous laugh. Scanlan believes him. 

“You should probably teach that trick to Percy, look at him! His hair’s already gone white!” 

“Har-har. You’ll pay for this one day.”

...

A first drink with Grog is a momentous and very loud occasion. Pike joins them as well, glad to be with Grog as drinking buddies again. 

Scanlan, for his part, teaches the boy all sorts of drinking songs and simple tunes he’s always asked to play in taverns. 

At some point in the evening, Grog tries to slip the poor kid a shot of the sandkeg but, luckily for their continued speaking terms with Percy and Vex, Scanlan is able to deftly wrist pocket it away. It gets him a wink from Pike and an absolutely astonished stare from Grog when the boy downs the normal ale with no problem. 

It’s a fun night, even if it’s just a very moderate amount of alcohol, alone with family in a dining hall. 

Percy and Pike monitor their fun to make sure they don’t get too rowdy; Percy doesn’t want his son shit-faced and Pike is, well, Pike. 

But that’s really no way to live your life. 

“Now that you’ve had your first drinking experience, though I’d hardly call this dining hall an experience, I think you’re mature enough to hear some poetry out of this wonderful book-“

...

“Scanlan?”

“Mm?”

“Will you tell us about the ravens?”

Scanlan stops in his tracks but doesn’t allow his face to change. 

“...only if you don’t bring it up with your mom, ok?”

...

Vax tells his own stories, when the Raven Queen allows him to visit. They’re good but short, he’s much more eager to hear the kids’ stories and get caught up in what time he has. He’s been more busy lately, what with the apparent chaos in Wildemount. Something about a carnival. 

The ravens bring him and take him away. 

Vex is ok. 

Vax is ok.

“I’ve got to go, I love-“

...

The kids are much older, no longer children, but everyone, no matter the age, likes to hear stories. 

And Scanlan likes to tell them. 

Most of them.

See, the older a person is, the harder they look for the truth and the more disappointed they get when they either can’t find it or find out it doesn’t really exist. Scanlan knows the rare instances of actually finding the truth can be even worse, but kids just don’t listen. 

Scanlan is being asked more and more hard questions and having to tell more and more bad, but truthful, stories. 

He’s finally got his first gray hairs when the middle children ask him about his scars. 

The one under his eye is of particular interest as it’s front and center, but there’s so many. So many hard stories to tell. 

He tells a few, makes up silly responses for others. They know there’s a lot of things they don’t know about their parents’ adventures, but they’re old enough to know not to press. 

“I’ll tell you a different tale, about-“

...

“I’ve heard dad say Ioun chose you. Is it true?”

The youngest boy, not so young anymore, is always asking whether or not things are true. Scanlan has tried to convince him the truth can be subjective, but he just won’t listen. Always looking for more, that kid. 

“Yes, it’s true. Your dad doesn’t lie as much as me.”

He snorts, disbelieving. 

“What was it like?”

There’s that same twinkle in his eye, just like when he was a kid waiting to hear ghost stories. 

“Well, to start, there’s this huge library and-“

....

When the youngest girl leaves to study with monks, the house is much quieter. 

Her brother had become a paladin of Ioun in record time.

Her older sister has her own bakery.

Their oldest brother has taken up archery and brewing. 

Scanlan and Pike visit often, as many friends as they can gather to fill the space again, bring the party back together. 

Keyleth is there most often, as she has the most ease of transportation and the most enthusiasm for hanging out with friends. Grog comes by when he takes breaks from his time apparently ravaging the countryside and achieving enlightenment, somehow. Pike claims she has no idea how he’s managed to not age much since they last saw him and Grog refuses to tell, happy to know something they don’t for once. 

Vax even makes it to dinner once, ushered in by a giant flock of ravens rushing through the dining hall, leaving feathers everywhere. 

Scanlan is telling stories almost all the time. He asks if they want him to stop, if they’re getting sick of it, but the party agrees he still hasn’t made up for the time lost when he left. 

“How many stories will that take?”

“How many songs do you usually do in a day? And multiple that by the time you were gone. That’s how many.” Percy smiles so much more now. It’s nice to see.

“I’ll be working till I’m old and gray, in that case.”

“You’ve got plenty of decades before that happens, I assume.” Percy eyes his hair and face, unable to see any obvious signs of aging. 

“Actually, he’s had a few gray hairs and he’s very insecure about it.”

“Pike, no! That was confidential information!”

Everyone laughs, even Vax, that brooding bastard. Grog teases him, tells him he’ll match Pike’s hair any day now. Percy says he’d be glad to welcome him to the ‘white hair club’. 

Scanlan is happy they have this time together. Even if everyone is ganging up on him for having just a few strands of gray hair. Not even noticeable. Just a few. Maybe three. Probably less. 

Scanlan tells them stories about Kaylie and their travels. He tells them stories he’s read in the library. He tells them stories he would tell in taverns, about people before Vox Machina. About gods. About monsters. 

About love. About family. 

About Pike, much to her embarrassment. 

“I’ll tell you about a different town, in a different continent, with a different party called-“

...

It’s very late. 

They’ve all been drinking. 

“Another! Another story! Scanlan, please, just one more, before bed.” 

Percy is trying to get Keyleth to go to bed but she just won’t be consoled without another story. 

Scanlan is always happy to help. 

“Have I told you the one about-“

**Author's Note:**

> This is like... maybe my third attempt at critical role fanfiction? And fanfiction in general? But I think it turned out ok. 
> 
> I haven’t actually watched the first campaign but I’ve read a LOT of Scanlan fanfics and seen lots of highlight videos so hopefully it’s not too bad?
> 
> This is also on my tumblr (same username) but in like 3 parts cause tumblr can’t handle so many paragraphs.


End file.
